Share issue still open as Plan B if sale falls through

RAISING £2million over five years through a new issue of shares is still an option if fans vote against a proposed sale of Wycombe Wanderers.

The plans were previously mooted at the end of last year as the Wycombe Wanderers Trust looked to the fans to help raise extra money for the club.

And it remains a back-up proposal if a proposed sale of a controlling interest of the club is blocked by supporters.

The ultimate aim of the share issue would be to raise £2million over a period of five years, which Trust members believe will be sufficient to fund the running of the club.

But ahead of a Trust forum on Tuesday night the board had recommended to members that the sale of a 75 per cent controlling interest in the club was the way forward to achieve financial stability.

An as-yet unnamed company approached the Trust with a view to taking a controlling interest in the club and the undisclosed sum of money being offered by the company would allow the Trust to operate the club debt free for the first time in a number of years, members said.

A condition of the sale is the football club would remain at Adams Park - which could land them with an extra financial windfall.

The ground would remain owned by the Frank Adams Legacy Ltd - a subsidiary company of the Wycombe Wanderers Trust - and if the sale goes through they would receive additional rent from the football club.

But the sale won't go through unless at least three quarters of the 538 Trust Legacy members vote in favour of the proposals, with a date for the vote to be announced in due course.

The Trust board indicated they are willing to stay on if fans don't agree to the sale, but said they are looking for a long term financial solution instead of having to continually make short term decisions.

If fans vote in favour the sale will still go ahead even if the club is relegated from the Football League at the end of the season, although the sale price will decrease as a consequence.

Last November the Trust announced plans to reorganise the club's share capital so a total of 2,500,000 shares would be released, giving voting privileges to all holders.

The three other supporters-run clubs in League Two, AFC Wimbledon, Exeter City and Portsmouth, have all recently launched similar schemes to raise extra cash for their respective clubs - but Blues are the first to announce an intention to sell.